Two Tips For Getting Organized When You'Re Overwhelmed With Clutter

Studies indicate having a clean home does wonders for your mental and physical health. However, a home that's cluttered from floor to ceiling can be intimidating to tackle, and it's not surprising that you may be putting off trying to deal with it. If you desperately want to get your house in order but are overwhelmed by the task, here are a couple of tips to help work through your anxiety and get organized.

Dedicate 15 Minutes a Day

Looking at the big picture can help you make better decisions in life. When it comes to organizing clutter, however, viewing the job in its entirety can make you feel tired and defeated even before you begin. That's because you're also likely imagining all of the hours and hard work it will take to clear the mess, time and energy you probably don't have.

Instead of trying to consume the whole elephant in one swallow, take it one bite at a time. Specifically, work on decluttering one section for 15 minutes each day. This will accomplish two things. First, it will immediately make the job much smaller because you only have to focus on doing 15 minutes of work rather than hours upon hours.

Second, you'll begin gathering a bunch of small wins as you hit your daily goal. The positive feedback of accomplishing something every day will help push you to continue, especially when you start to see results of your efforts. You'll naturally want to spend increasing amounts of time attending to the clutter, which snowball into a clean home.

Use a timer to ensure you're getting your full 15 minutes in every day, and take pictures of the area and post them in a place where you'll see them daily. This can provide a visual reminder of how far you've progressed.

Remove Items from the Home ASAP

You should have a minimum of three sorting boxes to help you with decluttering: a box for things you want to keep, one for things to give away, and one for things to throw away. Use these boxes to help you get rid of things you don't need or want and keep the important items you want to hold onto.

Regardless of whether they're full or not, empty the boxes on a daily basis. Throw the trash items in the bin and take the items for donation to a local charity. Put the items you want to keep wherever you wish to store them (e.g. in a box in the attic). This prevents you from rummaging through the discard bins and changing your mind, thus negating your efforts.

Decluttering will take some time and may require you to work through some emotions that may be contributing to your problem. If you find you still have too much stuff even after discarding and donating items, consider renting a storage unit for the excess to help make room in your home.

For more information about decluttering or to rent a personal storage unit, contact a local storage facility.

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